The present invention generally concerns lifesaving devices for quickly and reliably imparting increased buoyancy sufficient to assist in maintaining a user's body afloat in water during an emergency. The invention more specifically relates to a portable or personal flotation assistance device which requires only a single, readily effected actuating step by the user.
The prior art is replete with devices securable to or about a user's body so that, in a sudden or otherwise unforeseen emergency, sufficient buoyancy in water to help keep the user afloat is available. The standard life jacket, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,128,423 of Manson, fits about the user's body trunk in the manner of a garment and includes expandable compartments inflated by the pulling of ripcords to open valved pressurized gas cartridges. Although such jackets are standard, if not required, equipment aboard passenger-carrying watercraft (and aboard aircraft commercial aircraft flying over water), they are by their very size, configuration and manner of use inherently uncomfortable and confining to wear and are therefore not often worn by those aboard boats. When an unforeseen emergency does develop, the stowed life jackets may be difficult to locate and, if and when found, require an amount of time and effort to put on which may not be available before the individual finds himself involuntarily cast into the water. The substantial number of unnecessary drownings in boating accidents each year attest to these serious drawbacks.
Similar devices configured to be worn about the waist in the manner of a belt, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,221,852 of Gerley, No. 3,760,442 of DiForte, Jr. and No. 3,952,355 of Bardebes, are also known. These buoyancy aids suffer from deficiencies akin to those associated with standard life jackets and, in addition, may prove difficult for the user to actuate in an emergency by reason of their positioning about the mid or lower body trunk. Moreover, manufacturers' efforts to reduce the time and actions needed to secure such devices about the user's waist by simplifying their clasp or buckling arrangements have resulted in devices that are altogether too easy to release as, for example, inadvertently by a panicing user's arm and body movements during an emergency.
Still other lifesaving or buoyancy assist devices, less in the way of garment-type arrangements but nonetheless intended for securement to the body, are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,611,427 of Evans and No. 2,111,358 of Crockett each disclose an inflatable sleeve to be worn about the arm as an aid to natation. However, the Evans and Crockett devices, since they must be manually inflated by having the user exhale into one or more internal air chambers thereof, are generally unsatisfactory as lifesaving aids readily available in a sudden emergency; they are far better suited for use by an inexperienced swimmer seeking to improve upon his or her skills. Similar flotation sleeves are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,727,252 of Bauermeister and No. 3,820,179 of Maertin.
There is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,070,818 of Fairchild a lifesaving device worn about the wrist like a watch, and of similar size, containing an inflatable bag in one chamber and a volume of compressed gas in another. When the cover of the device is struck by a sharp downward blow a pointed valve is driven through a wall separating the two chambers to release the gas and fill the bag and thereby provide buoyancy to the user. While the small size of the Fairchild device may reduce one's reluctance to keep the unit secured to the body, the ability of the user to strike with sufficient force and accuracy the required sharp downward activating blow in a sudden emergency, and perhaps while in the water trying to remain afloat until the bag is fully inflated, is unclear. Should the pointed valve member be driven only partially through its supporting plug and into the gas chamber, the outward flow of gas into and inflation of the bag would be seriously impeded, resulting in a potentially life-threatening failure of the Fairchild device for its intended and expected purpose.
Thus, buoyancy assisting or lifesaving devices heretofore known suffer from a variety of serious deficiencies including the need for manual inflation, unreliability or difficulty in actuation and use, discomfort when worn for extended periods, undue complexity for securement to the body, and physical obtrusiveness which interferes with other activities or which negatively impacts upon the appearance of the user.